An Author Connects
Glen Huser
During author visits I am often asked where the ideas for my books came from . Answers are as varied as the books : connections to people I ’ ve encountered , places I ’ ve lived , my work as an instructor , my development as a visual artist , historical and social issues that have caught my attention . Sometimes the answer is simply , “ This book is something I wished I had at my fingertips when I was a teacher-librarian .”
Firebird is a novel that can pretty much fit all of these connections . Foremost it is a dark , largely hidden chapter of our history : the fact that during the First World War , thousands of immigrants ( mostly Ukrainians ) were herded into concentration camps across Canada and put to work , virtually as slave labour . Although I grew up in a small Alberta community with a large Ukrainian – Canadian population , I never heard anything of the internments until I was an adult working in Edmonton and stumbled across the information .
A story to be told ? Remember that gap on my library shelf ? A narrative began to take shape in my mind . Characters ? Alex Kaminsky , a teenager recovering from burns from a farmhouse fire , searching for an older brother who has disappeared . Marco , the brother , was an itinerant farm hand , but also an artist with his pencils and paints . Scenes grew — the fire , Alex being nursed by a rural midwife , riding the rails in his search for Marco , given sanctuary by a Norwegian immigrant family in Edmonton , and eventually the horrors of the concentration camp at the Cave and Basin in Banff .
Researching Firebird , I spent countless hours poring over texts on the internments written by Ukrainian – Canadian scholars and reading accounts
of families who emigrated from Ukraine in some of Alberta ’ s community histories . What were the towns of Vegreville and Banff like in 1916 — and the cities of Edmonton and Calgary ? Community histories helped here , as did Alberta ’ s provincial archives and Edmonton ’ s city archives .
For the sequence in which Alex spends time with a Norwegian immigrant family in Edmonton , I drew on my own experiences with my paternal grandmother who came from Norway in 1916 and , with her children ( following her husband ’ s death ), eventually homesteaded in the Lac La Biche area in Alberta .
As a final connection — which is actually the first noted in the novel — I ’ ll leave you with its dedication :
“ In memory of my father , Harry Huser , an immigrant boy , artist , and musician .”
From his earliest years , Glen Huser loved to write and read and draw and paint . In retirement , he reports that life has been good , and he has been able to continue pursuing a career as an author . He had his first novel published while working for Edmonton Public Schools as a teacher-librarian and learning resources consultant ; he ’ s now published twelve books for readers from children to adults . news & views WINTER 2021 | 39